Trending Job Titles for Developer Community Building

As you may already know, developer community building is gaining more and more traction. With the immense growth it enjoys, it presents a host of job opportunities on the managerial side and beyond. Relatively new job titles are sprouting now more than ever. From DevRel, community marketeer, to community manager, there is something for every type of talent. In this blog, we shall go deeper into the waters of community building to explore and expound on the different job types that may be waiting for you.  

Keep in mind that some of these roles might seem very similar, and here’s why. During the earlier days of the industry, there were only a few roles to fill due to fewer responsibilities and smaller communities, but this is no longer the case. Developer communities are now a vast space, and consequently, the original titles have had to shred into more specialized, more minor roles. For instance, the broader category of community manager has given birth to a host of other titles that are still developing including, community success manager, community operations manager, and chief community officer, to name a few. Having noted that, let’s now get started.

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DevRel

DevRel is simply the industry term for “developer relations”. If you ask 5 random devs what a DevRel is, you will likely get 7 answers, and none would be utterly wrong. But to put it in simple terms, a DevRel’s primary role is to act as a link between their company and a community. So, why should this make you tick? If you got a job as a DevRel, you’d be responsible for roles such as getting feedback and ensuring that the welfare of a community is excellent. This includes getting feedback that could be used to make better strategic and technical decisions. Originally, DevRel was a term that encompassed a host of other titles, such as dev advocate and community engineer, but as the industry continues to expand, some of these are starting to stand on their own so as to streamline the community experience.

Developer Advocate

As we’ve just noted, this title has launched from the roof of DevRel and is now more or less considered by many communities as an independent path. You might think that this title would require you to attend a law school for years, but you’d be wrong. What a developer advocate does is primarily root for projects. Therefore, you need to have more than average coding experience. As a dev advocate, you will be required to build sample apps, do live coding exhibits, give demos and pretty much stick your nose to other technical areas of the community. 

Developer Marketeer

Well, this title speaks for itself because marketing is just what it is. A developer marketeer will inspire and encourage the community to consider trying, mastering, adopting, and contributing to certain products such as apps and software. But that is not everything. These marketers will create reach-out strategies and product-go-to-market plans that are aimed at winning the hearts of developers. Additionally, they will handle marketing campaigns on social media platforms, content marketing efforts, email marketing, and even website content. Excellent developer marketeers understand the art of incentives; hence you will find them coming up with reward systems to motivate devs and offer early access privileges to attract them. Chances are if you started as a single-language developer and advanced to multiple languages, developer marketeers had something to do with it. One significant difference between normal, conventional marketers and developer marketeers is that the former will market a final product to consumers, but the latter here focuses on developers. You will find them marketing discoveries such as newly found solutions to stubborn bugs, tools for creating software, and even SaaS platforms. Another perspective to help understand the difference is that the dev community is fragmented and inclusive, which means centralization rarely works. Developer marketeers have to tailor everything according to the channel they are targeting. To add a game-changing hint for you, if you ever find yourself in a dev marketing team, it would be best to understand that developers do not like marketing per se. Reportedly, this is an observation ascertained by different surveys. Therefore, instead of investing in jargon and superfluous language, you might want to stick to the precise side of things, lean towards the technical side, and stay pragmatic.

Community Manager

It goes without saying that every thriving community is a result of good management. Community management is a critical ingredient of the growth, success, and maintenance of a developer community. Much of a manager's work revolves around finding a balance between the community's needs and commitments. They do everything within their power to ensure a positive engagement is ongoing and that there is evident fruition regarding the company goals. On a greener level, managers are required to discover potential sources for community members, join in the conversations and try to lure them using various techniques. A community manager needs to clearly define their parameters of success and lay out a precise plan to achieve those milestones. This level of delicateness begs the question, how do you become an exceptional developer community manager? The answer to this lies in the realms of both soft and hard skills, but probably the ultimate game-changer is an excellent organization. To put it into simple terms, each skill is a small segment of a whole circle, and in order to form a complete circle, one needs to organize each of these pieces in perfect harmony. The skills themselves may vary depending on the nature of the community, including factors like coding language and shared interests. More than ever, a community manager needs to have emotional awareness, social tact, and team building expertise.

Chief Community Officer

The executive team needs an official who will ensure that the other leaders truly understand the role of the community and its contribution to the bigger picture. They often execute their duties by providing vision-oriented leadership such that everyone remains on the right path. They will hunt for industry trends and pitch the goals to adjust accordingly to keep competitors on their toes. Their contribution to the community determines the effectiveness of the whole setting. This means that if they were to go adrift in the performance of their roles, the community and company could derail from the core goals. A chief community officer must pinpoint underperforming leaders, thereby raising the alarm to find a solution in time.

Technical Ambassador

Some people prefer to call this title 'developer evangelist' while others choose to stick to 'ambassador' due to the religious weight 'evangelist' carries. A good technical ambassador requires to specialize in publicizing a particular product to the broader tech industry. Their focus is primarily on the usefulness and efficiency of the technical side of the product in the subject. Conventionally, you'll find that such a position is held by a person who has reached director level. A prudent and success-bound technical ambassador needs to hold discussions with the community to discover the resourcefulness of some unique individuals. An ambassador has to see the broader picture so that they can tie back their findings to the company objectives and find a space for fresh technological solutions in the industry. Additionally, the holder of this title should collaborate with project directors to streamline the technical selling points of the product. 

Above are some of the most common developer community job titles. As the technology world continues to advance dynamically, the communities continue to fill up, and this growth calls for management changes. More titles will continue to emerge in the future in form of a tree model where one job title births a few titles that also start to break up with time. Nevertheless, it is vital to take seriously the positions you might find yourself filling now or in the future. Familiarize yourself with what is required of you, making sure to master the qualities that make a good leader, including critical thinking and social awareness. Ultimately, always remember that the communities are there to interact and help each other and that the most transcendent way to become a great community leader is to encourage goal-oriented collaboration.